Zapping pests: Whether it is spiders, mice, flies or mites, essential oils can be used to get rid of them. Spray water with 10-15 drops of peppermint oil where mice and spiders enter. In the summer, disfuse peppermint or lemongrass and keep flies away. Water with a little peppermint oil sprayed on houseplants will also keep mites away.

There’s buzz around town about a new hotel and restaurant being built at the corner of West Lake Drive and Washington Avenue, but it wouldn’t be the first in that location. In 1902, W.D. Wise built the Park Hotel near the corner of where the two streets meet, facing West Lake Drive. In 1910, the hotel was sold to Fred Weiss Sr. The building was small for a hotel and considered more of a boarding house. The owner’s son, Fred Weiss Jr., started the Detroit Boat Livery in 1911, across the street on Detroit Lake.